The urban development department is said to have written to Thane Municipal Commissioner (TMC) Sanjeev Jaiswal, directing him to initiate disqualification process against four corporators who are accused in builder Suraj Parmar's suicide caseTNN | March 17, 2016, 07:52 IST

THANE: Political observers have raised eyebrows at the ruling BJP-Shiv Sena regime's decision to initiate administrative process for disqualification of four corporators who are accused in builder Suraj Parmar's suicide case.

The urban development department, headed by chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, is said to have written to Thane Municipal Commissioner (TMC) Sanjeev Jaiswal, directing him to initiate disqualification process against Vikrant Chavan (Congress), Najib Mulla and Hanumant Jagdale (NCP) and Sudhakar Chavan (former MNS-turned Independent) after the Thane police initiated criminal proceedings against them for abetting the suicide of Parmar, who was the head of Cosmos Group.

Mulla told TOI the move was sheer political vendetta by the BJP government to crush the opposition and those opposing illegal constructions. "It's sheer dictatorship and a deliberate confusion being created by the state government. What are the grounds for the disqualification? We have been booked for raising issues in the TMC about illegal activities by a builder who committed suicide. The issue is pending trial in the sessions court. But before any verdict, the state has announced its judgment. It is a message to the opposition-either surrender to the BJP or quit politics," he said.

Surprisingly, the state government seems to have 'overlooked' and ignored the corporator Raja Gawari who has been convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment in the Deepak Patil murder case.

Deputy secretary Dr Sudhakar Shinde has signed the letter citing Section 13 of the Maharashtra Municipal Corporation Act, 1949, which allows the government to remove a corporator found guilty of any misconduct. The letter has asked the TMC commissioner to disqualify the four corporators within a month or else the state government will take action to disqualify them. The letter states the corporators' conduct was disgraceful and unbecoming of an elected representative. Also, they are accused for misusing their posts for getting undue benefits and hence action is warranted, it states.